The reigning champions Jakub Knoll and Josef Záruba celebrated their fourth victory of the season in the Central European Circuit Championship at the Slovakia Ring. A mere ten minutes from the finish, their commanding lead was disrupted by an unavoidable collision with a KTM car, forcing Josef Záruba to head to the pits for repairs.
“On one hand, it’s disappointing, but on the other, I’m glad it turned out this way. We finished the race, and even though we had to pit, we still came home in third. It’s the first time this year we haven’t taken first place, but the key point is that our championship position remains secure, and we head into the season finale with a comfortable lead,” said Jiří Mičánek Jr., team manager of Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra, following the weekend in Slovakia.
Jakub Knoll dominated qualifying in the GTC class and got off to a strong start. However, part of his stint was spent behind the safety car, which was deployed following an accident caused by another driver’s mistake. “The race was enjoyable, and I had quite a few battles out on track. That said, I’m not satisfied with my performance. I came into this weekend hoping to be faster than I was in the spring race at the Slovakia Ring, but that didn’t happen,” said Jakub Knoll.
Thanks to a flawlessly executed pit stop, Josef Záruba went into his second stint ahead of several cars in the “open” GTX class and defended his position with excellent defensive driving. However, ten minutes from the finish, he was involved in a collision with a KTM X-BOW GTX, sending both cars off track. While his rival slid across the gravel into the barriers, ending his race, Záruba managed to bring the damaged Lamborghini Huracán ST EVO2 back to the pits, where the mechanics replaced a broken wheel, allowing the car to return to the track. “Fortunately, it was the only damage to the car. We were able to continue quickly and finish the race. The worst thing that could have happened for our title fight would have been leaving the weekend with zero points,” said Jiří Mičánek. Knoll agreed, adding, “But it’s great that we didn’t give up and still secured important points.”
Josef Záruba was left frustrated mainly because, from his perspective, the collision was unnecessary. “The GTX class is faster, yet they were behind us. We could have kept it as a nice, hard, but fair battle. We were in a different class, nothing was at stake for us, we could have entertained the fans and enjoyed it,” shrugged Záruba. “I’m disappointed for Kuba and the team — we could have won. In the end, the incident ruined the race for both teams, although we came out better from it,” he added.
For Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra, third place at the Slovakia Ring marked their first points drop of the Central European circuit season, where Knoll and Záruba are defending last year’s title. They still lead the GTC class, with the championship potentially being decided in just two weeks at Brno. “Our goal there will be to confirm the form we’ve shown all season and defend the title. But we’re certainly not counting points as a given — we want to go home and race for the win in front of all our fans and partners,” concluded Jiří Mičánek.
